Word Origin & History

fix late 14c., probably from O.Fr. *fixer, from fixe "fixed," from L. fixus, pp. of figere "to fix, fasten," from PIE base *dhigw- "to stick, to fix." Earliest Eng. usage was to "fix" one's eyes or mind on something; sense of "fasten, attach" is c.1400; that of "settle, assign" is pre-1500 and evolved into "adjust, arrange" (1660s), then "repair" (1737). Sense of "tamper with" (a fight, a jury, etc.) is 1790. As euphemism for "castrate a pet" it dates from 1930. Related: Fixed; fixedly; fixing. The noun meaning "a position from which it is difficult to move" is first recorded 1816, Amer.Eng., from ...the verb. Meaning "dose of narcotic" is from 1934, originally fix-up, which dates from 1867 in reference to liquor.